How to get unique values in an array

Question

How can I get a list of unique values in an array? Do I always have to use a second array or is there something similar to java\'s hashmap in JavaScript?

I am going

Answer 1

Another thought of this question. Here is what I did to achieve this with fewer code.

var distinctMap = {};
var testArray = ['John', 'John', 'Jason', 'Jason'];
for (var i = 0; i < testArray.length; i++) {
  var value = testArray[i];
  distinctMap[value] = '';
};
var unique_values = Object.keys(distinctMap);

console.log(unique_values);

Answer 2

Using jQuery, here's an Array unique function I made:

Array.prototype.unique = function () {
    var arr = this;
    return $.grep(arr, function (v, i) {
        return $.inArray(v, arr) === i;
    });
}

console.log([1,2,3,1,2,3].unique()); // [1,2,3]

Answer 3

Since I went on about it in the comments for @Rocket's answer, I may as well provide an example that uses no libraries. This requires two new prototype functions, contains and unique

Array.prototype.contains = function(v) {
  for (var i = 0; i < this.length; i++) {
    if (this[i] === v) return true;
  }
  return false;
};

Array.prototype.unique = function() {
  var arr = [];
  for (var i = 0; i < this.length; i++) {
    if (!arr.contains(this[i])) {
      arr.push(this[i]);
    }
  }
  return arr;
}

var duplicates = [1, 3, 4, 2, 1, 2, 3, 8];
var uniques = duplicates.unique(); // result = [1,3,4,2,8]

console.log(uniques);

For more reliability, you can replace contains with MDN's indexOf shim and check if each element's indexOf is equal to -1: documentation

Answer 4

If you want to leave the original array intact,

you need a second array to contain the uniqe elements of the first-

Most browsers have Array.prototype.filter:

var unique= array1.filter(function(itm, i){
    return array1.indexOf(itm)== i; 
    // returns true for only the first instance of itm
});


//if you need a 'shim':
Array.prototype.filter= Array.prototype.filter || function(fun, scope){
    var T= this, A= [], i= 0, itm, L= T.length;
    if(typeof fun== 'function'){
        while(i<L){
            if(i in T){
                itm= T[i];
                if(fun.call(scope, itm, i, T)) A[A.length]= itm;
            }
            ++i;
        }
    }
    return A;
}
 Array.prototype.indexOf= Array.prototype.indexOf || function(what, i){
        if(!i || typeof i!= 'number') i= 0;
        var L= this.length;
        while(i<L){
            if(this[i]=== what) return i;
            ++i;
        }
        return -1;
    }

Answer 5

Or for those looking for a one-liner (simple and functional), compatible with current browsers:

let a = ["1", "1", "2", "3", "3", "1"];
let unique = a.filter((item, i, ar) => ar.indexOf(item) === i);
console.log(unique);

Update 18-04-2017

It appears as though 'Array.prototype.includes' now has widespread support in the latest versions of the mainline browsers (compatibility)

Update 29-07-2015:

There are plans in the works for browsers to support a standardized 'Array.prototype.includes' method, which although does not directly answer this question; is often related.

Usage:

["1", "1", "2", "3", "3", "1"].includes("2");     // true

Pollyfill (browser support, source from mozilla):

// https://tc39.github.io/ecma262/#sec-array.prototype.includes
if (!Array.prototype.includes) {
  Object.defineProperty(Array.prototype, 'includes', {
    value: function(searchElement, fromIndex) {

      // 1. Let O be ? ToObject(this value).
      if (this == null) {
        throw new TypeError('"this" is null or not defined');
      }

      var o = Object(this);

      // 2. Let len be ? ToLength(? Get(O, "length")).
      var len = o.length >>> 0;

      // 3. If len is 0, return false.
      if (len === 0) {
        return false;
      }

      // 4. Let n be ? ToInteger(fromIndex).
      //    (If fromIndex is undefined, this step produces the value 0.)
      var n = fromIndex | 0;

      // 5. If n ≥ 0, then
      //  a. Let k be n.
      // 6. Else n < 0,
      //  a. Let k be len + n.
      //  b. If k < 0, let k be 0.
      var k = Math.max(n >= 0 ? n : len - Math.abs(n), 0);

      // 7. Repeat, while k < len
      while (k < len) {
        // a. Let elementK be the result of ? Get(O, ! ToString(k)).
        // b. If SameValueZero(searchElement, elementK) is true, return true.
        // c. Increase k by 1.
        // NOTE: === provides the correct "SameValueZero" comparison needed here.
        if (o[k] === searchElement) {
          return true;
        }
        k++;
      }

      // 8. Return false
      return false;
    }
  });
}

Answer 6

One Liner, Pure JavaScript

With ES6 syntax

list = list.filter((x, i, a) => a.indexOf(x) === i)

x --> item in array
i --> index of item
a --> array reference, (in this case "list")

With ES5 syntax

list = list.filter(function (x, i, a) { 
    return a.indexOf(x) === i; 
});

Browser Compatibility: IE9+